1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improved diapers used for care of handicapped persons, invalids, patients, elderly persons, infants, and women in menstrual periods.
2. Description of the prior art
Popular conventional diapers of this type are so-called disposable diapers which are formed substantially flat and are made of water absorbing soft paper materials. Some of such materials contain macromolecular water absorbents.
Because of the fact that a conventional diaper is made in a substantially flat form, it tends to directly contact parts of the body in the crotch area of the user when it is bent in a U-shape and applied to the crotch area. In this state, there will be no problem with a minute quantity urination. In a single urination, however, a person ordinarily discharges urine of a quantity of about 300 to 500 cc within a time period of about 10 to 20 seconds. Therefore, urine spurting out from the body of the user can directly hit the inner surface of the diaper which is attached to the crotch area of the user. Even though the diaper is made of a water absorbing material, the impetus of the discharged urine will not allow the diaper to absorb the urine sufficiently within a short period of time because of a limited water absorbing capacity of the diaper per unit time. Consequently, some quantity of the unabsorbed urine tends to go sideways after hitting the diaper, causing so called side wetting. The side wetting results in a troublesome cleaning of the gown and/or the bed linen as well as the body of the diaper user.
In the case of discharging feces to a conventional diaper, feces tend to spread between parts of the body of the diaper user and the diaper. In this case, feces can reach a waist part or even a back part close to a shoulder and can make a mess of wide areas of the body of the diaper user, resulting in a troublesome cleaning of the body, the gown and/or the bed linen.